ABC v Huntercombe (no.12) Limited & Ors

Facts

ABC claims damages arising out of her placement at Huntercombe Hospital in Maidenhead, a privately run psychiatric facility owned and operated by the first defendant, Huntercombe (no.12) Limited. She alleges that during a four month period at the hospital in 2018/2019 she was mentally and verbally abused by a large number of staff and restrained on over 200 occasions. All the relevant events preceded a transfer of undertaking in around March 2021 from Huntercombe to the second defendant, Active Young People Limited, for the purposes of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006. The third and fourth defendants, Dr Banisetti and Dr Tattersall, were at various times ABC's consultant psychiatrist and responsible clinician, employed first by Huntercombe and then by AYPL. ABC initially sued Huntercombe alone, but it was then discovered that Huntercombe is in liquidation and that its public liability insurance carries a deductible of £250,000 per claim, which it is thought would wipe out most or all of her damages. She therefore joined the other three defendants, contending that AYPL was vicariously liable for the acts and omissions of D3 and D4 because that liability had transferred. HHJ Bird, sitting as a High Court Judge, rejected that case on the trial of preliminary issues. Permission to appeal was granted by Singh LJ.